DCZards wrote:payitforward wrote:Barrett is a hot mess. Yes, he is a bit better this year than last -- mostly b/c he's rebounding a bit better & turning it over a bit less while bringing up his lousy FT % -- with the result that he is simply bad rather than absolutely horrible.
He might get better over time of course. Or he might not. Or he might get worse. One thing for sure is that he isn't someone to target in a trade.
Given that he’s just 20 years old I’d expect Barrett to continue to get better…rather than worse. He's shown solid improvement since his rookie season.
This is from an article published today in Forbes.Last year, Barrett averaged 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, which is actually quite good on the surface. But a deeper dive shows that the Canadian wing shot only 40.2% from the field and 32.0% from three — with a true shooting percentage of 47.9%. On top of that, Barrett’s advanced stats showed that he was rather obstructive as a member of the Knicks rotation, as his -2.9 OBPM (offensive box plus/minus) and -1.5 DBPM (defensive box plus/minus) made him a significant on-court negative.
This year, Barrett is averaging 17.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game and looks a lot more comfortable in every aspect of the game. The 20-year-old is becoming one of the best in the league at getting himself to the rim, where he is capable of either finishing or drawing fouls. Barrett’s free throw attempts are up to just about five per game, but he is shooting 76.2% from the charity stripe, which looks a whole lot better than last year’s 61.4%. And despite the fact that his three-point percentage is only 25% this year, his stroke looks a little better than it did a year ago. He’s also 8 for 18 from the outside over the last six games. Barrett isn’t going to shoot 44.4% from deep the rest of the season, but the confidence is nice to see and the higher clip falls in line with his improved free-throw shooting.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharycohen/2021/01/25/new-yorks-rj-barrett-is-beginning-to-live-up-to-the-hype/?sh=219e464bbc6e
Yes, of course I would expect him to get better -- for one thing, he's better this year than last. A good indication that more improvement might be in the offing.
But, what I wrote remains true: he was absolutely horrible last year, & he's still bad this year. Plus, I really don't get why you cite an article like this one from Forbes. Why yes, Barrett is averaging 20% more points per game -- he's playing 20% more minutes per game! That doesn't come go the heading of "improvement."
Per 40 minutes, he is producing .39 more points than last year. &, since his eFG% is unchanged, that's entirely from shooting FTs a bit better. Still, his efficiency has improved -- tho it's still lousy.
Where he's definitely improved: more defensive boards, more offensive boards, fewer turnovers (tho this is partly undone by fewer steals) & improvement in assists.
As you point out, Barrett is only 20 -- the age Troy Brown Jr. was a little less than 11 months ago. Has Barrett played as well to this point as Troy had played up to last February? No. & it isn't close. & Troy was a #15 pick, while RJB went #3.
Conclusion: to this point Barrett has been an enormous disappointment, not a good player at all. Since he was also not a good player in college, that's not much of a surprise.
Yet... you are right that he might improve a whole lot. Some do, some don't.
Last year, when I pointed out that high picks Barrett, Hunter, Garland, Culver, White, & Reddish had all been awful rookies, you made the point that they were young & you expected them to become good players. DeAndre Hunter has done that. None of the others have. Door's not closed, of course, but... in the nature of things it's closing.
